Godzilla
Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira) is a gigantic mutant gojirasaurus theropod and the King of the Monsters. He first appeared in the original Godzilla film, which was produced by Toho Company Ltd. and released on November 3rd, 1954. To date, Toho has produced twenty eight Godzilla films. Origins Edit In the late Cretaceous era (70 million years ago) there was a species of therapod dinosaur resembling a large Tyrannosaurus, but with special amphibious adaptations which allowed it to swim between the islands upon which it hunted. This dinosaur species has been dubbed "Gojirasaurus". A minimal breeding population of gojirasaurs somehow survived the great extinction event which killed off other dinosaurs and continued into the modern era. (Much the way many postulate that breeding populations of plesiosaurs survived to become modern "lake monsters".) Adaptations which aided the gojirasaurs in their survival probably included the ability to lay dormant for extended periods of time, and to endure high heat and radiation environments like active volcanic regions where man rarely encroaches. Living in the South Pacific, the gojirasaurs were observed only on rare occasions by the island people of simple fishing villages who incorporated the stories of these strange beasts into their folklore. All but one (or perhaps two) of the gojirasaurs were apparently destroyed in World War II. One gojirasaurus was severely injured by Allied attack, but managed to cling to life on the remote island of Lagos (near the Marshal Islands in the South Pacific Ocean) until post-war nuclear tests caused him to be subjected to a huge dose of radiation. The radiation caused the gojirasaurus' already radiation-attuned physiology to rapidly mutate/adapt. The animal grew and changed until the gojirasaurus had developed into an entirely new form of creature... Godzilla! After being seriously injured by American troops, Godzilla was left to die only to be mutated into a huge fire-breathing monster 10 years later by radiation from atomic tests in the Pacific. In the film, "Godzilla versus King Ghidorah," the details of the origin of Godzilla are visited. His origin was modified by time travelers from the future so that the wounded godzillasaurus was teleported to the Bering Sea, where an accident involving a nuclear submarine in the present day created a larger, more powerful Godzilla. The Godzilla of 1998 in the Tri-Star movie Godzilla was also created by nuclear testing. Although in this film Godzilla was an mutated marine iguana, not a sleeping dinosaur. Some says Eiji inspired from the American film, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms." Other pretends that inspiration for Gojira came from the incident of Fukuryu Maru. In 1954, a fishing boat strayed in the waters around the Bikini Atoll atomic testing site. Returning to Japan, the crew was afflicted with a strange illness, one dying as a result. Panic swept through the country, and a recall of tuna was ordered because of the suspicion of contamination. The Japanese press labelled the incident 'the second atomic bombing of mankind.'" -- Markalite, Fall 1991 In some Godzilla films released in Germany before 1985, the storylines were altered so that many of Godzilla's opponents were either sent or created by Dr. Frankenstein. AppearanceEdit Godzilla's appearance has changed between films over the years, but many defining details have endured. In the Japanese films, Godzilla is depicted as a gigantic dinosaur with rough, bumpy (usually) charcoal gray scales, a long powerful tail, and bone-colored dorsal plates (called scutes), shaped like maple leaves. His origins vary somewhat from film to film, but he is almost always described as a prehistoric creature, and his first attacks on Japan are linked to the beginning of the Atomic Age. In particular, mutation due to atomic radiation is presented as an explanation for his great size and strange powers. Godzilla's iconic design is composed of a mixture of various species of dinosaurs; specifically, he has the body and overall shape of an old model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the long arms of an Iguanodon, and the dorsal plates of a Stegosaurus. "Gorilla-Whale"Edit The name "Godzilla" is a transliteration of Gojira (ゴジラ), a combination of two Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ), meaning gorilla, and kujira (鯨 or クジラ), meaning whale. At one planning stage, the concept of "Gojira" was described as "a cross between a gorilla and a whale". The two words "whale" and "gorilla" fit Godzilla. Whale represents the aquatic and bulk of his life. The Gorilla represents the sheer strength and strategic thinking he does when fighting against other monsters. A popular story is that "Gojira" was actually the nickname of a hulking stagehand at Toho Studio.2 The story has not been verified, however, because in the more than 50 years since the film's original release, no one claiming to be the employee has ever stepped forward, and no photographs of him have ever surfaced. Since Godzilla is neither a gorilla nor a whale, the name had to be devised in a different way for the film's story. Godzilla's name was originally spelled in kanji (呉爾羅) by the Odo Island people—however, Toho chose these characters for sound only; the combined characters mean "give you net". This has been referenced countless times in Japanese books on Godzilla. Contrary to popular belief, the name "Godzilla" is not the idea of the American distributor. Before Toho sold the film to US distributors, Toho's international division had originally marketed an English-subtitled print under the title of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, which was shown briefly in Japanese-American theaters. Toho came up with "Godzilla" as an English transliteration of the name "Gojira". The Japanese-to-English translation method of the Americans in the 1950's also proved that Godzilla was the correct English translation of Gojira. Personality Edit Godzilla, in the original film, the Heisei era, some of the Millennium era, and Godzilla 2014, is an animal with semi-sapience that stumbles upon human civilization without any malicious intent, only destroying man-made structures when the humans provoke him, or, when dead-set on arriving at a certain location, any obstacles like buildings. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Godzilla is a malicious entity created from the restless souls of the dead from World War II. As the Godzilla series continued into the 60's and 70's, the terrifying monster developed as a character, and has since become a savior of the Earth, saving the world from other monsters like King Ghidorah, the Showa MechaGodzilla, Biollante, and Monster X, alone or alongside other monsters like Rodan, Anguirus, and Mothra. According to Mothra's Shobijin's translation of Mothra, Rodan and Godzilla's conversation in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla only "hates humans because they hate him." History Edit The Original Godzilla in Gojira (Godzilla) was a prehistoric monster that weighed 20,000 metric tons, was 50 meters tall, and terrorized the ships of Japan. It was disturbed by an American Hydrogen bomb testing in the Pacific Ocean. After being awakened, the monster attacked Tokyo, destroyed much of the city, and killed tens of thousands. In hopes of stopping Godzilla, a scientist by the name of Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) activated an experimental weapon he had developed, named the Oxygen Destroyer. Although Dr. Serizawa committed suicide in the process (out of shame and guilt), the weapon was successful, completely disintegrating Godzilla. It was stated at the end of the film that it was doubtful that there was only one creature, alluding not only to the many incarnations of Godzilla that would later appear, but also to all the other monsters that would be featured in movies produced by Toho. When the film Godzilla was first released in wide distribution in the U.S., its footage was reworked and supplemented with new footage featuring Raymond Burr as Steve Martin. It was renamed for general commercial release as Godzilla, King of the Monsters! in 1956. In 1957, the American version worked its way back to Japan, where the Godzilla name also took root. This American version was the only version represented on North American home video until the release of the Gojira DVD in September 2006, which contains both the unedited Japanese theatrical version and the reworked U.S. version. The Americanized Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was honored with a plaque on its 50th anniversary at the former location of Visual Drama, where Raymond Burr's insert scenes were filmed by director Terry Morse. The location is now the Frank del Olmo Elementary School (named after the late Los Angeles Times columnist). The plaque is at the main entrance at 100 N. New Hampshire Ave., Los Angeles. As alluded to at the end of the original movie, Godzilla again surfaced at first as a menace in Godzilla Raids Again. Setting the tone for future Showa series films, Godzilla's fate is uncertain at the end. His next film was 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla. The menacing ego of Godzilla's final film in the Showa series was 1964's Mothra vs. Godzilla (the original American release title was Godzilla vs. The Thing, but it was changed to the original Japanese title). Starting with Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla took on the protagonist persona he would wear for the remainder of the series. He would team up with Mothra, Rodan and Anguirus along with other monsters to battle a variety of foes both mundane, Ebirah, Kumonga and Kamacuras, and bizarre, Hedorah, Gigan and Megalon. He even gained a son in the form of Minilla. The series ended with Terror of MechaGodzilla in 1975. The final scene depicted Godzilla wading off into the sea, not to be seen until his return in the VS series ten years later. It is notable, however, that the earlier-released film Destroy All Monsters took place in 1999, twenty-four years after Terror of MechaGodzilla. The series could also be said to truly end with Destroy All Monsters's ending, which depicted all of Earth's monsters living out the rest of their days in peace on Monsterland. This "jump" of dates also explains how King Ghidorah appeared in movies such as Godzilla vs. Gigan, he was killed in the earlier film. The Toho tokusatsu series, Zone Fighter, is notable in that it features Toho monsters from the films, such as Gigan, King Ghidorah and Godzilla himself. Produced during the 1970s, Toho has gone on record stating that the events depicted in the Zone Fighter television series are part of the Showa era, taking place between Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla. Category:Movie villains